Alan Keyes is among the Republican presidential candidates on the debate stage.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A familiar campaign figure is on stage in Johnston with the rest of the Republican field for the first time this year.

Former Ambassador Alan Keyes may be making his major debate debut this cycle at the Des Moines Register/Iowa Public Television debate, but this is the third presidential run for the veteran campaigner, who has also made three unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate.

Keyes may barely register in most recent surveys of Iowa primary voters, but he meets the criteria laid out by debate organizers: he registered at least 1 percent in October’s Des Moines Register poll, he has filed an official FEC statement of candidacy, and he hired an Iowa campaign staffer and opened an Iowa campaign office as of October 1.

Keyes did participate in a September Republican debate that was skipped by the leading GOP contenders.

On the Democratic side, underdog contenders like Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel are both out of luck – they will not be included in Thursday’s Democratic debate. (Kucinich was disqualified because his Iowa field director works out of his home.)

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Know your history people. As an Illinois native, it seems none of you are informed about how Obama beat keyes. Obama was getting beat in the polls by Jack Ryan until a marital scandal broke out about Ryan and he had to drop out of the race at the last minute. Keyes, a non-Illinois native, came into the race in the last minute with no ties to Illinois, no money and no local recognition. Obama basically got very lucky. His victory had nothing to do with him.

I watched most of the debate on TV last night but it was late here so didn't see the end. I was so impressed with Ron Paul. All of his good ideas about America were picked up and used by the other candidates. I thought I would get "the score" online this morning but CNN has absolutely nothing. I had to go to the English Telegraph which has a very good article.

Brian, Orlando, Florida You are not completely correct. It is up to Ron Paul to get us out of Iraq and put us back on track. Very few of the Dems will get us out. Although Kucinch seems to be sincere in getting us out of this stupid war.

The requirements for this debate were laughable. I mean to include Alan Keyes, who most people wonder who he is, was a great mistake. He looked so plastic and phony. He seemed to advocate that (but not in those words) we should ignore the seperation of church (religion really) and state. Keyes failed to answer most if not all questions asked of him.

I think the Des Moines Register should have had better requirements to be included. I would have left out (as others have said) Keyes, Hunter and Tancredo. Keyes just harped on the idea that the other candidates weren't conservative. Hunter did his usual "China is cheating on trade." Tancredo had his familar refrain of talking about illegal immigration. If any of the three that I have mentioned had more than 2% in any polls, I would be surprised; as well as having more than a million dollars in their campaign funds.

They all seemed to mention something along the lines of "let market competion be our savior." I am afraid that all of them have not studied history very well. That doesn't always work. The auto manufactures claimed adding seat belts and removing leaded gasoline would hurt them. It didn't. They just didn't want to compete. There needs to be some competion, but having everything done by that can lead to trouble since people aren't always smart about the choices they make.

He is a "nut" among nuts. His grappling behavior and false accusations of favoritism demonstrate he is nothing more than the embattled black man (a la Jesse Jackson) of the Republican Party. While some of his ideas are on target–he comes across as a GOP Black Panther in his attitude. Not a great way to gain wide appeal?